Red at Day

It may have been two days ago but waking up in a bed seemed like luxury. The zombie plague hit fast and hard. I'm nervous about going to lake William but I have to if this whole zombie thing is.
I wake up next to Kasmira and we're back to back, huddled in the blankets. I guess we're both steal blankets. I sit up and rub my eyes with a slight moan. Honey moans back and I giggle. Poor Honey; Jackie took all of the blankets. I look around to make sure the zombies didn't get in and everything is safe. I take the gun by my bed and go to the bathroom. Who knows when I'll get indoor pluming again.
I check behind the shower curtain and all is clear. I use the bathroom and take my final shower for probably the next week. Thank goodness for hotel shampoo, soap and towels. I will never take a shower for granted again. It just feels wonderful and considering my last shower at my house was... well... a disaster. That day will haunt me until I die. Having to kill my little brother, Jasper, and my parents- I shiver from the thought. I begin to cry and the water falling from the shower head disguises it. I know the invasion will be over but once it is, who will I stay with? My parents are gone and I don't even know if any of my family will survive. Will I even survive? I begin to get dizzy, so I sit down. I feel so pathetic but I'm just so sad. I let everything I have out so I can pull a brave face later. If I show weakness, the others might feel vulnerable. I can't let my team down.
When I gather myself up, I finish my shower and get dressed. Black t-shirt and jeans for today. I exit the bathroom and Jackie heads in.
“What's the plan for today?” Kasmira asks.
“We're going to Lake William.” I sigh.
“Can we go swimming?” Honey asks.
“No, zombies can go in the water and walk around because they don't need air. You are most likely going to die swimming. Maybe another time, darling.”
“Is this because you're afraid to swim or is this legit?” Jackie hollers from the bathroom. I blush and yell back “No, this is legit.”
“What does she mean you're afraid?” Honey asks. I fondle with the bottom of my shirt for a second and then fold my arms.
“I, uh... I can't swim.” I reply, looking away.
“What?!” Honey asks.
“Are you serious?” Kasmira asks. I glare at them and they get the hint.
“Besides, what would you have to swim in?” I ask.
“We could go naked!” Honey suggests.
“With Curt nearby?”
“Never mind.”
“Thought so.”
We wait a few moments until Jackie comes out. Kasmira goes in to take her last shower and the rest of us just chat. It's almost like a big sleepover and the apocalypse never even happened.
“Hey, when are we leaving?” Adolf asks through the walkie-talkie.
“When everyone's ready.” I reply.
“And when will that be?”
“I don't know. Has everyone showered over there?”
“No, no one's showered.”
“You might want to do that. We won't be showering for a while. Best to get it in while you can.”
“What about the lake?”
“I forbid anyone from entering the lake!!”
“And why is that?” I hear him laughing as he asks. What a jerk.
“I'm not explaining it fifty thousand times so you can get a laugh out of my orders!” I yell into the microphone.
“So they're orders now?” he jokingly asks.
“Yeah, and no getting off on them either! You seem to do that pretty well! Or... anything really.”
“Hey, I do not!”
“Where were you when I entered the house?”
“That's not important!”
“It is so important! Just admit you're a creep and we'll be good!”
“Oh, so I have to admit I'm a creep but you can't admit why we can't swim?”
“Zombies. They get can walk around in the water without coming up for air. They will get you before you get them. Your turn!”
“Okay, I have needs that have not been fulfilled lately so I-”
“Nuff' said! Details aren't needed.”
“You usually like details.”
“No, shut up before I off myself and leave you people to fend for yourselves!”
“Yep, that's the old Annabelle.”
“Tsundere~!” Jackie coos.
“Shut up!” I growl. At this point the girls are laughing and I'm sure the guys are on the other end.
“Guys, we'll go once everyone is ready. If you're already ready, start packing. If there's leftover time, take. A. Shower.” I say into the walkie-talkie.
When the conversation with the single boys is done, I move onto the couples.
“Carter, Angel, are you guys up?” I ask.
“Oh yeah.” Carter answered coolly.
“Gross. We're leaving once everyone's ready I guess. The guys want to go soon so...”
“I gotcha. Alright, we'll get ready and then wait for the okay.” I proceed to do the same to the others and wait for our take-off.
“Who's going in who's car?” Adolf asks from the walkie-talkie. I jump a bit at the unexpected question.
“I, uh, a-assume...” I stutter, recovering, “Yes?” he asks.
“Shut up. I assume Bruce, Paris, Reed and Rose will be going in Bruce's... thing. James will take Curt in Jame's car while Carter and Angel share Carter's car. I'll be driving my Jeep and you guys can choose who you want to go with.” I reply weakly.
“I want to go in your Jeep again, Annabelle.” Curt's voice comes in.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I spent the day with you yesterday.”
“Why not spend more time?”
“Because one day is enough!”
“What makes you think I want to take him?” James asks “I spent the night with him.”
“And it was a very romantic night.”
“I'm not a homo.” The girls and I giggle. Ever since middle school, everyone thought James liked guys. He's really touchy on the subject but, honestly, there's nothing wrong with liking someone the same gender.
“James, could you, Curt and Honey take your car?” I ask nicely “They can sit in the back.”
“I don't want to be a chauffeur.”
“Then take Kasmira or Adolf with you.”
“There is no way I'm going with Curt!” Adolf shouts.
“Hey!” Curt huffed.
“What about Jackie?” James asked.
“She's obviously coming with me.” I replied.
“Can I see that?” Adolf asks.
“G-go away! I don't want him in my car!”
“I don't think you have a choice.”
“I can drive off without you!” Jackie takes my walkie-talkie and says into the microphone “Dude, just be quiet when you're in the car. You can sit in front, I plan on sleeping.” I glare at her but that does nothing.
The rest of the time I sit in the corner, twiddling my thumbs, and wait for everyone's okay.
There's a delay. The boys suddenly decided they wanted to take a shower after the okay. James already showered but Adolf and Curt need to be clean.
“I don't care if you have to shower together! Hurry the hell up!” I scream into the walkie-talkie.
We open the doors and see a bunch of zombies walking around the generator. The noise it makes must have attracted them. Not only that but they're walking around trying to find a human happy meal.
“I don't care about using the guns. Grab you crap and run as fast as you can to the cars.” I say.
“What about the generator?” James asks.
“You've GOT to be kidding me. Fine, one person from each car has to help get the generator. If you're the driver, give the keys and your crap to someone else so they can get into the car. Generator team, grab your guns and don't waste bullets!” I give my keys to Jackie and she takes my things. I take my pistol and and look threw the peephole. There's already an eye looking directly at mine. Gross. I fling the door open and put a bullet threw the zombies skull. The others charge out of the rooms.
Carter, Paris, James and I run down the stairs shooting the large horde of zombies that is crawling around. I can't believe Bruce would let his partner out on the field with no arguments. It's not my place to speak but he could have at least tried to reason with her!
As the others progress to the cars, we block all zombies from getting to them. Angel is the first to get to a car. She fumbles with the keys and quickly unlocks the door. She gets into the vehicle and checks the back for zombies. When all is clear she locks the car and throws all of her and Carter's things in the back. Reed and Rose are already at Bruce's thing but have to wait for him to catch up. In the meantime they check inside the... car (?) to see if any zombies are in. Adolf and Jackie make it to the Jeep. Adolf's always been fast at running. Jackie unlocks the car and Adolf thrusts the door open. Adolf puts the seat forward so Jackie can get into the back. She checks everywhere and puts the seat back to it's place. Adolf jumps in and locks the door. Honey and Kasmira are checking the car in a panic. Curt is the slowest runner on our whole team and he just so happens to have the keys. Bruce makes it to the car and unlocks the back to his van thing. Rose and Reed open the back to see there's a zombie in the back. “What the hell!?” Reed yells as the zombie races towards him. Reed gets the zombie away from the van and shoots it's head. Reed hears grunting behind him. Rose points her gun in Reeds direction and pulls the trigger. The zombie behind Reed falls to the ground. “Thanks, babe!” Reed thanks Rose, running back to the van. He shuts and locks the door behind him. Bruce is already in the driver's seat. He didn't even bother to help. Curt makes it to the car and unlocks driver's seat first. He checks the back, even though the girls already told him it was zombie free, and then unlocks the doors. Kasmira jumps into the front seat as said while Curt takes his place behind the diver with Honey to his right. They lock the doors.
I replace my bullet cartage and look behind me. Everyone's inside the cars.
“Let's go!” I yell. We run towards the group of ten zombies, shooting away. We have to jump over dead bodies and run towards the reason why we're covered in zombies. Half of the zombies follow us but the other half go for the cars. Just great.
We run to the place of the generator and see it's surrounded by at least six zombies.
“Crap.” I mumble under my breath. All of these gun shots are definitely going to attract more zombies. We have to work fast. They are coming.
“James, grab the generator as the rest of us hold them off!” I order. Carter, Paris and I take down every zombie that gets close to James. Blood sprays everywhere and it looks like a murder scene. The walls were painted red and crimson puddles make up the floor.
“Gross.” Paris says in disgust.
“Lets go!” James says, holding the heavy generator. James slowly makes his way to the car while the small group guards him. Zombies lay around the cars, shot by the passengers.
James gives the generator to Reed and then hurries into the drivers seat of his car. Paris slides into the seat next to Bruce and Carter gives Angel a kiss after getting into his car. I get into the Jeep and check behind me to see if Jackie is okay. She made a nest out of the blankets and is already fast asleep.
“How did she sleep threw the gun shots?” I ask, amazed.
“I don't even know.” Adolf murmurs.
The drive to Lake William wasn't terrible. Jackie stayed nice and quiet while, Adolf and I carried a decent conversation. We joked about the others, talked about the apocalypse and just acted like how we did before I hated him. Whatever.
We make it to Lake William and it's truly beautiful. Well, it would be if we weren't in the middle of a zombie invasion. Zombies were crawling all over this place.
“Guys, lets try and find a safe place to stay. Possibly not out in the open and not in another hotel.” I say into the walkie-talkie. On the road we all switch to one channel.
“Uh, Annabelle, you mind if I look threw your iPod?” Adolf asks.
“I left my iPod at home.” I reply, confused.
“No, your iPod is in the glove compartment.” Adolf holds up an iPod which has the same polka-dot background as mine did... does.
“Give me that!” I order, snatching it from his hands. As I drive (unsafe, I know. Guys, pay attention when driving. I have less to run into because of the zombies. If I hit something, it's a good thing.) I look through the iPod and it is- in fact- mine. It has all my “My Chemical Romance”, “Red Jumpsuit Apparatus”, “The Rasmus”, “Me Vs Gravity” and so many other songs. I was about to blow a fuse because I really missed my music.
“So, can I look at it?” Adolf asks, clearly missing the idea of music, too.
“Go right ahead!” I enthuse. Within a few seconds, Adolf has one of the most embarrassing songs playing. I can't remember who it was by but the names “Can't help falling in love” and it was a track on “Lilo and Stitch”. My face turns red and I screech “Turn that off right now!!”
“No way! I'd like to know why you have this song!” Adolf laughs.
“I-I d-don't know! Just turn it off!!” He laughs so hard that he can't change the song. I take the iPod from his hands once again and change it to something better. I put on “If Only She Knew Voodoo Like I do.” by Get Scared. I'd like something more... like this to fix my fallen pride. When the screaming parts come on, Adolf looks at me confused.
“I didn't know you liked scream-o.” He says.
“I usually don't. I do, however, like this band.” Jackie wakes up with a slight moan. I look over at Adolf and I can tell that had an effect on him. I laugh but it was almost a hollow one. Why does that make me upset?
“P-play SexyBack.” Jackie stutters, rubbing her eyes.
We find a great place near the lake that is covered in trees. We make base in a semi-circle that faces the water. This makes me so nervous. What if a thousand zombies come out of the water in the middle of the night? We won't be able to pack and we all might die. This has bad idea written all over it.
There are plenty of zombies circling the city so we must be super quiet. As a safety precaution, we're not making a fire. The single girls take watch. It's super quiet and we barely speak above a whisper.
“I'm so cold.” Honey complains.
“Me too.” I reply, wrapping a blanket around her.
“It's almost summer. Soon, it'll be warm again.” Jackie comforts.
“Don't say that! It'll be super hot once summer comes and we'll only have the AC from the cars!” Kasmira complains. This conversation would have turned into an argument if one thing hadn't happened: Adolf came out of his tent.
“What do you want?” I hiss.
“I want to talk to Jackie. Alone.” Adolf grunted. We all look at Jackie. She looks just as confused as the rest of us.
“B-be back within ten minutes so we know you're okay.” I stutter. Jackie nods and and stands up to go with Adolf. The two of them walk into the woods, careful not to snap any twigs.

~Jackie's Pov~

I kept my knife in my pocket for protection. No way am I going into the woods unprotected with Adolf. That horny creep has something on his mind and like I'm going to give him the advantage. Now that I think about it, I need a sword or something. I am so much better with things I can swing. I remember one time Annabelle was over with this kid that stalked her and I had a pole in my hands. I swung it and Annabelle said “Whoa! You broke the sound barrier!”
We walk farther away from base until Adolf decides he wants to chat.
“So, Jackie...” Adolf trails off.
“What do you want?” I ask, keeping alert. Adolf pushes me up against a nearby tree and begins kissing me. I don't mean a normal kiss, either. This one is the build up from all those lonely nights of nothing. He hasn't wanked in about two days, either. I begin to panic and try to push him off of me. I try all I can but he's stronger than me. He moves down to my neck.
“Get off me!” I plead. He moans as he gropes me. I reach for my knife, but he pulls out a gun ans sticks it to my head.
“You won't do anything. You're going to do this without a single complaint and you won't tell the others or I'll kill you.” Adolf threatens. Anger bubbles up inside me. I can't believe he would go so low as to do this. I'll shoot him in his sleep after this! But before he can continue any farther than second base, he stops.
I feel my chest get soaked in warm liquid. I look up and a large chunk of his neck is gone.
“Wh-what?!” I screech. Adolf is flailing around, trying to keep his neck from bleeding out, as a zombie chases after him. It bites Adolf's shoulder and I pick up the gun Adolf failed to hold onto. I point it at the zombie but I remember Annabelle saying a gunshot would attract zombies. The one chasing Adolf realizes I'm here and goes after me as Adolf falls to the ground. I take my knife out and plunge it into the zombie's head. I twist the knife and it falls down, dead just as Adolf.
I wait a moment, shaking from realization at what just happened. I knew we were in a zombie invasion but I never thought one of our own would die. Sure, I hate Adolf more than anyone can possibly imagine but it's still surprising.
Without wasting another moment, I stumble my way back towards camp.
Annabelle, Kasmira and Honey are sitting silently. I inch closer and their heads snap in my direction.
“A-Adolf d-died.” I begin “A-a z-zombie got him.”

~Annabelle's Pov~

Everything becomes silent and the girls sit beside me.
“So, what was that all about?” Honey asks.
“What was what about?” I ask.
“C'mon, I saw that too, Annabelle.” Kasmira sneered. I look back and for the between the two condescending faces.
“You like him.” Honey whispers.
“N-no!” I stuttered.
“You so do! Common, just admit it!” Kasmira whispers excitedly “If you just tell him, maybe he'd accept. You two could even get your own tent!” Girls now a days. Jeez, you talk about boys and then zombies don't even matter.
“I highly doubt there is any need for a new tent.” I mumble. Honey and Kasmira smile ear to ear at my red face.
“B-besides, he likes Jackie.” I say, talking myself out of a horrible decision.
“But Jackie doesn't like him.” Kasmira assured.
“A-alright, I'll tell him... later.” I stutter. Honey and Kasmira silently squeak in excitement.
“But why not when they get back?” Kasmira asks.
“B-because...” I trail off, twiddling my thumbs. Obviously there's not going to be a reasonable answer besides “I'm nervous” but I just don't want to tell them that. You know how you get when you just want to tell the person you like that you like them. Your tongue swells, your stomach gets upset, your palms sweat and your mind just... jumbles into a big hot mess.
We all hear a twig snap and our heads jerk to the right. Jackie is coming back hugging herself. She's shaking and covered in blood.
“A-Adolf d-died. A-a z-zombie got him.” Jackie sobs.